The Lord of Worlds began the world, though there is
no indication just how old the world itself is. Though all three of the
immortal races claim that they were the first to awaken, there is no indication
of which of them is correct or even if there was any difference in timing at
all. For all intents and purposes, the Angels, the Demons, and the Elves
awoke at the same time, though the Angels and Demons were much more numerous
than the Elves.

The eldest among the immortal races are King
Kellemain of the Demons, King Lylemuth of the Angels, and Queen Withra of the
Elves. All three lost their beloved mates to the madness of the early
fighting between the immortals, but rule as the respective monarchs of their races
still.

A Human reckoning of history begins some 5,000 years
before the present era with the mention of the War of the Young, when the
Angels and the Demons clashed. The War of the Young was a long and bloody
war, fought exclusively between the two more numerous immortal races, razing
whole stretches of land during their battles and drastically reshaping the
landscape. One such instance may have occurred in the east-central
section of Lathuria. Concerned that the war might endanger the newly awakened
Humans, the fourth and final of the Lord of World’s races of power, King
Xillcarn of the Elves attempted to negotiate a peace between the Angels and the
Demons. To this day, no one knows what occurred there, but a cataclysmic
explosion enveloped the plain, spreading ever wider and burning the land for
miles and consuming all who were there, including King Xillcarn. The land
there has never recovered and today it is a vast desert, known as the Desert of
White Dust, with but a single oasis in its center.

The War of the Young lasted for two millennia and
resulted in the deaths of the majority of the race of Angels and the race of
Demons. The Elves retained their neutrality throughout the long and
bitter conflict. Eventually the War of the Young reached a
stalemate. For another thousand years the two sides faced off against
each other, battling in small skirmishes in more remote areas.

About this time, both the Angels and the Demons began to
have regular contact with Humans and many found themselves fighting along side
one side or another. To help them keep up with their immortal allies, a
new art was established, that of magic. The Angels lent Humanity their
energies in order to heal wounds and protect them from the ravages of warfare.
This gave rise to White Magic. Meanwhile, the Demons gave Humanity their
power to channel into a destructive force, giving rise to Black Magic. At
the same time, in an effort to convince Humans to remain neutral, as a show of
their sincerity, the Elves taught Humanity to draw on the power of nature,
giving rise to the Elemental Magics.

Though the magnitude of the continued warfare escalated
once again, the stalemate remained for a time. Eventually, though, the
idealism among Humans shifted. The Demons’ continued rhetoric of
destruction began to wear on the Humans who fought for them and the teachings
of White Magic began to look more and more appealing to the battle-weary and
scarred. The Angels saved lives while the Demons destroyed them and as
Human thought and philosophy evolved, Humanity awakened to this fact.
Humans began to flock to the banner of the Angels in droves.

Finally, as the Demons were pushed further and further
back toward their northwestern territory and their fortress of Barkarra, King
Kellemain decided to issue a challenge to King Lylemuth, demanding a duel of
champions. It was decided that the two Queens would meet in battle.
The two queens went forth as their peoples’ champions in the great duel, Queen
Erishkegal for the Angels and Queen Kali for the Demons. The duel ended
on the material plain with the destruction of both Queens and their astral
bodies returned to the Astral Plain. It is presumed that they continued
the battle there, for the magic spells that drew on their energies remained for
only days afterward and then abruptly stopped working; the incantations were
correct and nothing ever changed, but there was simply no energy for them to
draw upon. The conclusion was that the two queens had both utterly destroyed
themselves in their great astral battle.

With the duel of champions undecided, the war
continued. Though both sides chose new champions in their
captains-general, Rezarcho for the Demons and Cypherion for the Angels, and
though the two met several times in battle, no duel of champions was ever
declared again. As the war continued on, Demon stronghold after Demon
stronghold fell to the Angels and their Human allies. Finally, all that
remained of the Demons on Lathuria was their fortress of Barkarra and only a
handful of the Demons including King Kellemain, Captain Rezarcho, the three
Knights, Styx, Cocytus, and Acheron, and Kellemain’s daughter the Princess
Selket. The rest of Demon-kind had fallen in battle and their astral
selves returned to the Astral Plain until the day they would have regained
their power and were able to rise again. The Angels besieged Barkarra and
eventually it fell. King Lylemuth himself oversaw the final attack which
was led by Captain Cypherion and the two Knights of the Angles, Paslar and
Quonus.

During that final battle, King Kellemain, Captain
Rezarcho, Knight Styx, and Knight Cocytus fought a holding action, buying time
for something to happen within Barkarra, though they were careful not to say
what. Toward the end of the battle, a great light emerged from Barkarra
and shot into the sky, fading off into the distance. Knight Acheron
emerged to join the battle momentarily, then he, too, vanished before the
attacking Angels’ eyes. The remaining Demons fought for only a few
minutes longer before Barkarra finally fell.

Since that day, the spells that draw upon the power of
the Demon Princess Selket have been useless. But a cry has been taken up
by the few Demons remaining on the material plain of Lathuria; “Selket
survives! She will return!”

One thousand years have passed since the fall of Barkarra
and the banishment of King Kellemain to the Astral Plain. In that time,
Humanity has worked under the tutelage of the Angels to create a golden age
upon Lathuria. Peace ruled without question for most of that time.
The one exception to this is the war that waged for one-hundred years between
Grelia and Umbecrast at the handle of the Kayfor Peninsula in the south eastern
portion of the continent. Those who fought in the war generally had their
own reasons, but the excuse of record is that the royal family of Grelia made a
blood claim to the throne of Umbecrast. It was, plainly and simply, a war
of succession.

Without dispute, the city with the widest influence and
the most power on the entire continent is Atoll City, just south of the ruin of
Barkarra on the well-protected Atoll Bay. It rose to power quickly
following the great war between the Angels and the Demons thanks in large part
to its geographic location. With the bay and its fortifying island of
Tarosopis to the south and the Atollean Mountains to the east and north, it was
defended on all sides and was thus given the opportunity to grow in times when
most other cities did not have the advantages needed. It became a natural
safe harbor on sea routes and a destination for traders and travelers.
Its proximity to the ruin of Barkarra makes it an excellent home base for
adventurers looking to dig up the ancient past.

In recent years, no more than the past five, in fact, a
few strange things have begun to intrude on the peace of Lathuria. In the
Golden Year 1000, that is the thousandth year after the banishment of King
Kellemain, a strange light was seen rising into the sky out of Barkarra.
The few Demons of Lathuria, who had been driven into hiding underground have
since begun to walk abroad again, now proclaiming “The King has returned!
The Princess follows!” and attacking small outlying villages who will not
recant their loyalty to the Angels. And indeed, a Demon claiming to be
King Kellemain has been seen walking Lathuria, with Captain Rezarcho and the
two Knights, Styx and Cocytus, close at hand. About a year after the
Blinding Pillar (as it has come to be known) shot out of Barkarra, the spells
of Princess Selket have strangely reactivated. But of the Demon Princess
there has been no sight. Nor has there been any sign of the Demon Knight
Acheron. Stranger still, it was about the same time that the Angel Knight
Paslar went missing and of her there has also been no sign. It is rumored
that some form of contact between the Demon King and the Angel King has taken
place, but all involved have been very tight-lipped about the proceedings.

In an uncharacteristic show of involvement, Elvenqueen
Withra has broken the relative isolation of the Elves. They had spent
most of the Golden Age in their settlements in the Fable Forest of the south,
wanting no contact with races who would attempt genocide. For the most
part, they have withheld their magic from all of non-Elven Lathuria, a fact
which raises the hackles of most Humans and other immortals. The Elves
are now spreading outward from the Fable Forest, but Queen Withra is
disinclined to reveal why she came to this decision. Some theories say
that she has somehow been threatened by the Demon King. Others say that
she is preparing to align the Elves with the Angels to defeat the Demons once
again. Other theories persist, but there is nothing to corroborate any of
them. Thus far, the three immortal races have been positioning themselves
in places of power all over Lathuria, but none of them seem ready to move
against the others. And caught in the middle, once again, is Humanity.

Our story begins in the year 1005 of the Golden Age and
some are saying that it may be one of the last...